


Wish Upon a Satellite

by darkmus



Series: AUs [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: AU, M/M, Welcome to Night Vale tweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-20 11:39:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1509092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkmus/pseuds/darkmus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>When you wish upon a star, it's actually a satellite, and your wish has been recorded & cataloged. An agent is now assigned to your case.</i> (<a href="http://darkmus.tumblr.com/post/79215687019/squigglydigg-im-not-gonna-lie-this-right-here">x</a>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wish Upon a Satellite

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://37.media.tumblr.com/35da9d25eced2d83d322f2858dc35ebb/tumblr_mwu4w6KzbO1sezhzgo1_500.jpg)   
> 

Located in Earth's upper theromosphere was the largest satellite wish facility, brimming with an army of agents tasked with fulfilling wishes. Here, worked a lonely Level 2 Wish Agent named Seto.

Seto wasn't always the biggest fan of his job, especially with that inevitable uptick of wishes on clear, cloudless nights during the holidays that would junk up the system and slow down their computers with wishes like, "I wish my mother-in-law would leave soon" or "I wish I didn't eat so much". (Sometimes the best nights were the overcast ones, where they could work on wrapping up pending projects in peace.) But otherwise, it was interesting work.

Each request was filtered and passed through an algorithm. They were only assigned to an agent based on the integrity of the wish and wisher. If you were a good person and the wish was reasonable, the likelihood of it becoming true was about 80%. Of course, this also depended on the tenacity and current workload of the agent. The computer had to kick out a lot of the "I wish I would win the lottery" wishes every day.

Wish agents were bound to a rule of secrecy. The higher-ups said that this was to keep the expectations of the population in check (but really they just liked the mystique of being a secret organization). They said that if satellite wish facilities weren't secret operations, the demand for results would be higher. That being said, their managers still required them to meet an average quota in the name of keeping their department's future budgets from shrinking.

Seto liked to guess what someone would wish for. There were some patterns, of course, but when they deviated from the norm it really caught his attention. Children usually wished for toys, teenagers for girlfriends or boyfriends, and parents for some sanity.

Today was Friday. It was late and the teleportation pad was calling Seto's name. He'd been working extra hard this week so he could take the next one off. His brother would be visiting the area for a business trip and after his team was done with their conference and site visits on Tuesday, they would hang out.

He was ready to clock out. He counted down the minutes.

"New wish comin' in. Can you get this one?"

Seto surreptitiously rolled his eyes at his coworker (the guy was a lazy bastard) but replied, "Yeah, okay."

He tapped the display and the computer spat out a string of numbers and letters to designate the new wish, along with its wisher's name, age, and location:

JKW012520132053USADC  
Joey Wheeler  
33  
Domino City, USA

Simultaneously, the computer provided audio and video of the wish. 

As Joey's face lit up the screen, Seto's mind briefly noted "he's cute" before bringing up the personality stats. He had pretty good scores.

"I wish…" Joey started and looked out dreamily and unknowingly into the satellite's cameras.

"I wish I had someone to share my life with," he said quietly and sighed.

"I mean, I've got my family and that's great… but… not the same. I want someone who's all mine -- to laugh with, to hold hands with, to watch dumb movies with…

"I'm just… so tired of the dating scene already… is there… anyone out there just for me?"

Joey laughed at himself, berating himself a bit at the silliness of wishing on a star and sending little puffs of breath into the sky.

"Well, if anyone's out there… it'd be nice to meet you."

And with that, he turned and walked back inside his apartment and left Seto thinking, 'It'd be nice to meet you, too.'

~~~

Seto spent the last seven minutes of his Friday creating a case file for Joey. He collected personality and aptitude tests, making several notes on each item. The computer did not automatically kick out Joey's request, so that was saying something.

He then calculated the fulfillment probability of the wish and noted that it wouldn't be too hard to achieve. He would just have to access dating databases, match up profiles, then use the propinquity synchronizer to create an ideal situation. Easy stuff.

All throughout the process however, he found little things that made him pause.

For instance, Joey actually lived in his neighborhood. (He'd never really paid attention to the people in his area, having paid enough attention to other peoples' lives during his working hours.)

Joey had a dog. (Seto had always liked dogs, but did not have one himself.)

And, most strikingly, that Joey 'played for the same team', as it were.

As he researched, it was looking more and more like Joey was perfect for him.

When he finally checked his computer clock he realized that he'd stayed 20 some more minutes longer than he intended. (He noted that his coworker had already left early. Lazy bastard.)

Seto packed up his things, shut down his computer for the weekend, and headed out.

~~~

It was Saturday afternoon and Seto had just finished cleaning up his apartment. It then occurred to him that it would be a good idea to get some groceries so that when his brother visited, he'd actually be able to feed him.

He got into his car and drove to the grocery store, trying not to think about the cute blond he saw yesterday.

Then, as luck would have it (and the universe could be so ironic like that), Seto saw… him.

They were in the cereal section. Joey was contemplating between a highly sugared choice against a super healthy one. Seto almost swung out of the aisle but something drew him towards the blond (fate… destiny… or the fact that he really needed cereal, too). As he pulled up quite close to Joey, Seto noticed that he, himself, was actually planning to buy those cereals. The sugared one was Mokuba's favorite and he rather liked the healthy one.

As he got closer, he tried to not disturb Joey and realized that his heart was beating a bit faster than normal. (But it wasn't as if Joey would recognise or even know who he was…)

And just then, a wheel of his cart squeaked awfully.

Seto froze. Caught.

Joey turned to him and smiled.

"Hello."

Oh, and that smile…

"Hey...llo…" Seto cleared his throat. "I mean, hello."

Joey chuckled and Seto thought his heart stopped. 

Damn, he was cute.

"Sorry, am I in your way?" Joey asked as he started to move his basket away with his foot.

"No, you're fine. You're all… fine..." (Was he subconsciously hitting on him?!) "I just… uh…"

Joey cocked his head to the side.

"I want…" he started and the traitorous part of his brain supplied "you" before he could stop himself (and luckily, it was only supplied in his mind). "The… those cereals, too."

"Oh! Okay." Joey smiled again. "Here, you can have these boxes." He held out the boxes for Seto to take.

"Thanks," he said as their hands bumped together awkwardly.

(And Seto wanted to reach out and hold those hands…)

"Thank you." 

Joey 'hmm-ed' and turned back to the cereals.

"I think I'll get those, too. I really like the Super Sugar Puffs, but I really should eat this one instead…"

"I like them; they're good."

Joey smiled. "I'll probably think of you when I eat them, then." And suddenly realizing what he said, Joey turned pink. "Uh… anyway," he mumbled, turning away with embarrassment and hastily picking up his grocery basket, "um… it was nice meeting you."

Joey backed out of the aisle with a sheepish smile and Seto watched him go, a bit longingly.

~~~

Seto got his groceries and got into a checkout line. Luckily, he got into one that was fairly short and was soon placing his food on the conveyer belt. As he turned to get the eggs out of his cart, there was Joey again, this time waiting in line behind him.

"Hello, again!"

"... H… hi!"

"Funny seeing you here," joked Joey.

"Well, there's only so many lines…" Seto replied, but immediately regretting his sass.

Joey's mouth quirked and didn't seem to mind. He shifted his basket to one arm to give a short wave. "I'm Joey, by the way."

"Seto."

"Are you having a party?" he asked, nodding towards the loads of chips and soda and ice cream in Seto's cart. "Can I come?"

Seto glanced into his cart and winced a bit. There was quite a lot of junk food in his cart…

"Ah, no… It's for my brother-- but if I did... then maybe--"

Just then, the cashier cleared her throat.

"You done flirting?" she asked impatiently.

Seto and Joey both turned pink.

"I… uh… sorry," he mumbled to her. Seto turned to finish piling his groceries on the belt.

He paid and as he walked out of the store, he glanced back at Joey and Joey smiled.

~~~

Then, for the third time… the universe did its thing again: their cars were parked next to each other.

"This is really getting out of hand," laughed Joey.

"Yeah…" replied Seto with a bemused smile.

"Must be a sign," Joey said. They stared at each other for a heartbeat before Joey haltingly asked, "It's kinda chilly. Do you… uh… want to get a cup of coffee?"

Seto wanted to… but...

"Sorry… I have ice cream and it might..." he started, before realizing that it probably would not melt in this weather.

"Ah… maybe not a sign then," sighed Joey ruefully.

"Maybe not…" he said, cursing the ice cream and flub in his mind. He paused and thought to himself before getting out a piece of paper and writing his number on it.

"But... maybe this is…" he said, nervously handing the paper to Joey.

Joey looked from the number to Seto's face with surprise and a smile.

"Maybe it is."


End file.
